House of Desire || an ateez vampire au

Half Past Midnight

*Third Person POV*

The 8 boys surrounded an unconscious Y/N, her head rested gently on the pillow, dark hair swirling against the white pillow case. Hongjoong watches as a single pure gold tear rolls down the side of her cheek. His eyes tracing the tear and it's shimmery path.
  
   "She's a what? What is it that you think she is?" Hongjoong asks worried.

   "What is she? I've never met anyone who's anything like her," asks Seonghwa, picking at the skin of his lip, his own eyes welling at the girls unconscious frame. "I've never seen anyone with tears of gold or a memory like hers or resilience like hers or artistic skills like hers."

   Hongjoong inhales deeply, his eyes never leaving her delicate face, "Me either, never in my life have I met someone quite like her."

   Yeosang clears his throat, "I think I may have read on something like her in a book of mythologies. But there's more than one possibility. She could be fey or she could be an angel, hell, she could even be an incarnation of a deity. There's no telling, especially if she herself doesn't know of her identity."

   "So what you're telling me is we could have a trickster in our home? Or an angel?" San spits out, the look in his eyes venomous, even Wooyoung steps away from his best friend after a glance at his expression.

   "You're telling me the inexplicable gravity of her could be because she is an incarnation of a goddess or god? Or it could be a fey trick for us to trust her? Give her all of our secrets and she binds us to soul contracts?" San's voice grew louder and louder with rage until he was screaming, but his tone was guttural and gravelly, and frankly scary.

   Wooyoung stepped towards his best friend, "Look San, she doesn't even know what she is, she barely knows about her strong aura. She doesn't mean any harm, she's probably scared and in pain. We need to be easy on her."
  
   San slowly lets his shoulders slump and his posture relax, Wooyoung is right, she's not a threat. She doesn't even know about her abilities. He hangs his head in remorse, and trudges towards Y/N's sleeping form. He rests a hand alongside her cheek, and caresses the side of her face.

                                *San's POV*

   I shouldn't have reacted that way to the news, she's never done anything with malicious intent, I can tell. If her smell means anything, her blood would taste clean and pure. I stroke her cheek with my thumb and her tears transfer to my skin, leaving a shimmery residue, like running your finger along a child's art project.

   "She should be okay, whatever she is, isn't quite human. She'll fight this," Hongjoong says as calmly as he can, but I'm sure we can all tell that his voice is wavering, "She'll be okay."
  
    I can't pay attention to Hongjoong's comforting words, I'm too busy staring at the many tears streaming down her cheeks, each one a different shade of gold.
    She clutches her hands to her chest. Her face is twisted in pain, her fine features scrunched and contorted. Around her a myriad of colors swirl, shifting like a holograph. She's breathtaking still.
  
   I reach for one of her hands, just to hold her to be here for her. She grabs my wrist, her eyes fluttering open. One a jarring shade of navy blue, the other a pale gold.

   "Yeosang what does this mean?" I ask shakily, her grip on my wrist is strong, if I had blood that ran she'd leave bruises on my wrist for sure.

   Yeosang is studying Y/N's eyes, he's pouting and his eyes are sharp, he sighs then bites his lip, "This has to mean that she's either an angel or fey. Maybe a fallen Angel? Maybe the pain she's going through is her body recalling her wings being ripped from her back?"

   "Y/N? Can you talk again?" Hongjoong whispers softly to her, "Can you tell us your true name?"

   She shakes her head no, and immediately cries out in pain. More of those gold tears streaking down her face.
  
   "She should rest, we should have only one of us in here at a time. Just to keep an eye on her," I say gently, "All of us staring at her won't do us or her any good."

   Mingi looks between Hongjoong and I, "Do you think we could move her to her room? Just so she's more comfortable? Please."

   When I meet his eyes I can tell that it's less about her comfort and more about his heart breaking every time he looks at her tear stained face.

   Hongjoong straightens up, "Of course we can, and we should. Let's do it." He motions for Seonghwa and Yunho to come help him, so they could grab her without disrupting her sleep. Part of me is disappointed that I'm not carrying her, but I still shiver at the feeling of her steely grip on my wrist.

   I follow them silently to her room and I take a seat in the arm chair at the foot of her bed.

   Hongjoong nods at me, "San has chosen first watch, Yunho, you should take second watch."

   "Okay, I'll come back in an hour to take over," Yunho whispers softly to me. And with that him, Hongjoong and Seonghwa have left me and Y/N alone.

   I can't help but stare at her, wondering what she is. Almost in awe that somehow she had glamoured herself so well that not even Hongjoong could tell she wasn't human. It's possible she's a fae changling, switched at birth.

   But I secretly hope she's an angel, imagine the irony of that, an angel being housed in a vampire den.
  
   As I observe Y/N, I feel the slightest amount of guilt, how could I judge her? How could a being like myself, have any room to pass judgment on her? I'm a vampire, who has killed people, innocent people. And she's the most innocent bright light I've ever seen.
  
   I watch as new tears roll down her cheek, and I am more than tempted to get up and wipe them from her face, but I know I shouldn't touch her. I shouldn't disturb her rest, but a part of me feels drawn to do it. To touch her, to caress her soft cheeks in my calloused dirty hands.
  
   It can't hurt to just wipe the tears from her face and brush the hair from her eyes, can it? Without another thought I make my way to her bedside and there is a pale gold shimmer dusting my fingertips. Her skin softer than I imagined, I take the liberty to hold her face just a second longer than I should.
   
   If it hadn't been for the door to her room squeaking I doubt I would've noticed Yunho entering the room, I was that entranced by her.
 
   "My turn to watch over Y/N, go rest San."